Directory assistance (sometimes referred to as 4-1-1) services provide local wireline telephone customers with a means to find information relevant to residence, business, and government phone listings. In early directory assistance call centers, an operator would manually find listings per a caller's request. Directory assistance call centers have since made steady improvements to increase the usefulness of the options offered by directory assistance service providers. Calls to a directory assistance call center are typically handled by a combination of an automated computer system and a directory assistance operator. A directory assistance operator can prompt a caller for information pertaining to the caller's request or the caller can be prompted by an automated system. The caller can enter the requested information on a telephone keypad, speak the requested information and/or initiate a request via another wireless or web based application that performs the lookup (i.e. from a users PC web browser while interacting with a web presentation of their online billing detail). The caller's response can be processed by a computer using appropriate software (i.e., voice recognition software if the caller speaks the requested information), or entered manually by a human operator. A query is then submitted to a database. Upon receiving the results of the query, the operator can connect the caller to a synthesized voice system that presents the query results to the caller.
Two types of common lookup methods offered by directory assistance service providers include forward and reverse lookups. To service a forward lookup request, a directory assistance operator can prompt the customer for a listing name and for locality information. The customer enters the listing and locality information on a telephone keypad and/or speaks the requested information. The listing and locality information entered by the customer can be processed by a computer using appropriate software, or entered manually by a human operator. A directory assistance database is then queried to search for the number associated with the listing. The number query contains information entered by the customer and attempts to find a matching number. Upon receiving the results of the number query, the operator typically connects the caller to a synthesized voice system that presents the query results (i.e., the requested number) to the customer and provides the user options to complete the call, receive information via a message or add the information to their address book.
To service a reverse lookup request, a directory assistance operator can prompt the customer for a number. The customer enters the number on a telephone keypad and/or speaks the number. Where a telephone keypad is used, the numbers can be sent using dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) tones as known in the art. The number entered by the customer can be processed by a computer using appropriate software, or entered manually by a human operator. A directory assistance database is then queried to search for information associated with the phone number. The query contains the number entered by the customer and attempts to find a matching listing. Upon receiving the results of the listing query, the operator typically connects the caller to a synthesized voice system that presents the query results to the customer.
In either of these methods, the listing data provided to the customer is limited to the information stored in the directory assistance database. Unfortunately, a large amount of queries are returned with no listing data found, and since most directory assistance services are pay-per-use, the caller is billed for each time they use the service, regardless of the result. The possibility of being charged for a null result can discourage the use of the service.
Another widely used and popular feature is caller name and number identification service (caller ID). Caller ID delivers information to a call recipient regarding the identity of the party attempting to place the call. The caller ID information can include the telephone number from which the calling party is placing the call or can include both the telephone number and the name of the entity associated with that number in telephone company records. Caller ID information enables wireline and wireless telephone service providers to offer a network-based caller ID service to their subscribers. Many wireless subscribers do not currently have access to caller ID information, but instead rely on information stored in their respective devices. This information can be displayed upon the subscriber being called by someone in their contacts list. If the caller's number is not located in the contact list the subscriber may only receive the caller's telephone number.
Current directory assistance systems and methods often times fail to provide the requested information to a customer. In addition, current wireless subscribers may merely receive the number of an incoming call without additional identifying information. Thus, there is a need for a more robust directory assistance system and method for overcoming the deficiencies of existing systems.